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Fears over health won’t stop phone masts

By Mike Pyle
July 01, 2010

New telephone masts are set to go up after councillors dismissed fears about them harming people’s health.

A newly-published study by researchers from Imperial College London seems to back up the planning councillors’ decision.

They looked at almost 7,000 children and found those who developed cancer aged four or younger were no more likely to have a birth address close to a mast than their peers.

Bracknell Forest Council’s planning committee has given permission for three masts to go up in Harmans Water, Great Hollands and North Ascot, despite numerous letters from concerned neighbours and even one from a school.

Councillors have agreed that all three masts, which range between 12.5m and 15m high and will be used by O2 and Vodafone, can be built because there were no legal reasons for them to be denied permission.

The masts will be built at the junction of Opladen Way and Harmans Water Road, in Ringmead opposite Viking in Great Hollands and near the shops in New Road, North Ascot.

Councillor David Worrall, chairman of the planning committee, said: “There is a Government directive that if the masts meet the requirements of the Radiation Authority as regards non-ionizing radiation then councils don’t have to take further concerns as regards health.

“There are concerns from people over health but they’ve not been held up in this country or abroad.

“I believe that we can disregard the concerns over health in this instance.”

Some councillors were reluctant to agree to the masts being built but accepted there was no legal reason for them not to.

Cllr Shelagh Pile, who asked for the application in Harmans Water to go before the committee, said: “I know they say masts are safe but there are also statistics which say exactly the opposite.

“I remember when we all thought asbestos was safe – in years to come we might have a similar situation.

“We will have applications for more and more of these masts as technology increases.

“I know there is no planning reason to refuse [these applications] and I know the [Government] inspector would grant this even if we turn it down but I find it sad that local councils have no say in this.”

One of the objection letters to the mast in Great Hollands was sent by Easthampstead Park School which voiced concerns that public health concerns could stop people from sending their children to school there if a mast was built near it.

But as the school is 390m away from the site for the mast the objection was dismissed.

Council planning officer Basia Polnik said: “It is considered refusal on the grounds of perceived health risk could not be warranted.”

When considering the applications councillors also discussed the effect vehicles parking to service the masts could have on traffic in the areas.

The proposal to build the mast in New Road, North Ascot, caused particular concern in this respect.

Cllr Tony Virgo said: “In this particular location I’m concerned that it may exacerbate the highway problem which is acute at this point.

“I’m not against these masts, however – this stretch of road is extremely dangerous. It seems silly to site something where we know there is a problem.”

Cllr Worrall said the phone companies had explored other sites in the area and chose that one because it was most suitable.

He added: “I have a mobile phone mast outside my own house and the number of times a vehicle comes to maintain it is very small.”

The masts will contain antennas operated by O2 and Vodafone. The Harmans Water mast will contain six antennas, three Vodafone and three O2, which will be pointed with their beams of greatest intensity in three directions.

The other masts will contain four antennas, two O2 and two Vodafone, pointed in two directions.

The purpose of the masts is to enhance the companies’ 3G internet services in the areas.

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I bet all the objectors own and use mobile phones

Gnome, A garden in Bracknell
1/07/2010 at 13:44

The study in question is seriously flawed. Even the researchers admit it in the studies discussion section.

First off, no measurements were made of the mobile-mast exposed mothers. The radiation was estimated from theoretical calculations. The researchers only took large masts into account, even though there are loads of smaller masts, potentially closer and more intense in exposure.

The people in the control group, that are assumed to be unexposed to large masts, were not screened for exposure to wi-fi, cordless DECT phones, mobile-phones, or even smaller masts which would have given them chronic exposure to microwaves similar to the large masts. This biases the results towards "no risk".

The study even assumed that the mothers stayed at home for the full nine month pregnancy as they mention in the discussion part of the study: Quote: "Neither were we able to take account of migration of the mother during pregnancy. Despite the large study size, such potential misclassification of exposure and migratory effects could have reduced the ability of the study to detect any true excess in risk."

Go see for yourselves, the study is online here: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/340/jun22_1/c3077 (and be sure to read the "rapid responses" from other scientists)